Tiger forward retires to chase NFL career

Richmond forward Ben Griffiths has unexpectedly retired to take up a four-year college scholarship as a punter in American football.

Griffiths earned the full scholarship with the University of South California after a whirlwind process that apparently only came about in seriousness in the last two weeks. Griffiths had been training with Australia's Prokick outfit to learn the game.

The 26-year-old was picked by Richmond at No.19 in the 2009 AFL draft, and has played 63 games in eight seasons. He has been hampered by concussion - suffering dual injuries last season, playing just one game in 14 weeks.

He had feared for his AFL career, and while concussion is a serious issue in American football, punters are generally spared serious physical contact, with most hits on a punter attempting to dislodge the ball more than playing the man.

At 200cm and with a booming kick, Griffiths represents a big hope of progressing through the punting ranks to an NFL team from USC.

He told the Tigers club and teammates of his decision on on Thursday before training, shocking the club, which had signed him up through the 2018 season.

Griffiths said the opportunity came up to join the Trojans over the holiday season break and had to be taken seriously.

"Ultimately the opportunity was too good to refuse," Griffiths said on the Tigers website.

"It certainly wasn't something I had been contemplating and only arose two weeks ago.

"It was tough telling my teammates and coaches this morning but they understand and support my decision."

Richmond football manager Neil Balme told FoxSports that Griffiths’ opportunity was a good one for him and the club gave him their best wishes.

“It came as a shock when Ben made the announcement on Thursday morning,” Balme said.

“Coming in to season 2018, we expected Ben to put together a strong pre-season and again feature as a forward target for us.

“However, we understand this opportunity was too good for him to say no to and we support his decision.

“Ben is a naturally talented athlete and I have no doubt he will quickly adapt to American football.

“I wish Ben and the Griffiths family all the best for the future.”

Griffiths follows in the footsteps of a growing number of hopeful Aussie punters including former Fremantle Docker Max Duffy, who joined the University of Kentucky as a punter.

One note is that Griffiths does leave a hole in the Richmond list - retiring at this point in the season will mean that the Tigers are unable to fill his position, leaving Richmond without a backup tall forward.

Bookmakers Neds rate the Tigers a $7 shot to defend their AFL crown in 2018, behind favourites the Crows, Swans, and GWS Giants on the next line of betting.
This content brought to you by Neds, odds correct at time of publication.